The cat and dog hurried on down to the river, but when they reached the bank they met with a new difficulty. The weather had suddenly turned very warm and the ice had begun to melt. In many places it was gone altogether, and where it was left it was too thin even to bear such small animals as themselves.
“And now what are we to do?” cried the cat. “We will never be able to get back to our village.”
“Oh, yes, we can,” replied the dog. “Do you mount upon my back. Dig your claws deep into my long hair and hold on tight, and I will carry you across.”
The cat was terribly frightened at the thought of such a thing, but still she saw no other way to cross the river. She climbed upon the dog’s back, fastened her claws well in his hair, and then he plunged into the water and began to swim across.
All went well until they neared the other bank. A crowd of children had gathered there to see the ice break up. When they saw the dog swimming across with the cat on his back, it seemed to them the funniest thing they had ever seen in all their lives.
The dog was so busy swimming that he did not even notice them, but the cat, upon his back, saw everything that was going on. She herself suddenly began to think what a funny thing it was that she should be riding at ease on the dog’s back, while he was swimming so hard.
She tried not to laugh, but she was so amused that at last she could refrain no longer. She burst into a loud cat-laugh, and at once the charm slipped from her mouth plump into the river, and sank to the bottom.
“The charm! The charm!” the cat cried. “I have dropped it in the river, and it has sunk to the bottom.”
As soon as the dog heard that, he dived down into the river to regain it. He was in such a hurry that he never thought of telling the cat of what he meant to do.